Fill my cup & run it over

Health Update #32

Hi friends! I am so excited to share this week's update. SO MUCH has happened since we last "chatted".

So in my last post, I shared how I had been struggling in my faith and feeling a little bit like God forgot me. Well. He didn't and He showed up right on time to encourage me when I needed it the most, so let's back up a little bit...

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Friday, Oct. 6

I'm still in shock.

Literally one hour ago, I was telling James about a testimony I heard yesterday and how God has been telling me over and over to trust Him. Yesterday, I heard someone say "God is bigger than the statistics" which is something that has specifically been on my heart lately. The things we know about the journey we are walking through are not good, yet God keeps saying over and over, "I got you. Just have faith." He keeps affirming that healing will be part of my story even though it looks impossible right now.

So anyways, an hour ago, I told James I really needed to get something with a mustard seed in it.

He proceeds to take the dog out right after that conversation and finds a package on the front porch that says "Praying for you from a friend."

My mouth dropped open! Inside was a mustard seed bracelet!

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Sunday, Oct. 8

I am so overwhelmed by the goodness of God! We had an awesome sermon this morning. This evening, during Sunday school, we had a great discussion in class. I had shared with my class some things that I have personally been struggling with - specifically the waiting as we walk through this health trial we are walking through. From early on in this process, the Lord has made it clear to me that healing will be part of my testimony. Now, over 2 years into this, healing hasn't happened yet, and was it appears the situation may be worsening. So sometimes you can feel defeated in the midst of those circumstances.

Tonight on the way home from church, I was praying and pouring my heart out to the Lord about how I was truly feeling behind the scenes. For the last little bit, I haven't really even known what to pray and sometimes just sit in the quiet with God. I was real with Him, and told Him how this was hard, but I was just going to trust Him. At that exact moment a song called Hold On came on the radio. Of course, I lost it and tears started to pour. It can be overwhelming when the Lord's been quiet and then all of a sudden starts getting your attention!

I walk in the house with tears in my eyes, and my husband immediately starts questioning me and asking if I'm okay! I told him that yes, I was fine, but that I was just overwhelmed because the Lord had started talking to me a lot.

So he tells me my online orders had arrived, so I started to open my packages. In one of the packages, I got another surprise!

The Lord sent me ANOTHER mustard seed - this time, He sent a necklace! God gave me a double portion!!! This is so significant to me because I had prayed several days before all this transpired that the Lord would fill my cup and run it over.... and He did! He is up to something!

When you feel defeated, or like the Lord has forgotten you, please know that He hasn't! He might just be working in the background preparing to bless you.

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Thursday, October 12

God answered a prayer!

Two weeks ago, the nephrologist told me that my kidneys appeared to be worsening and my body was becoming too acidic. That was tough and I began to doubt & question all the things I thought I knew that God had told me. My faith felt like it was weakening. Lots of tears shed & prayers of "God, I don't understand."

Then, God gave me two mustard seeds and reminded me to hold on. He wasn't done with me yet.

I was supposed to go see the kidney doc next week for a repeat of labs, but today I had my appt with the blood doctor at the cancer center and they drew a round. The two metrics that the kidney doctor was worried about had changed and both were NORMAL.

My creatinine was still high, but had come down to 8.9 (around the lowest it's been since my second aHUS flair in Jan 2022). Everything else was in the normal ranges.

The hematologist was thrilled. He said I didn't exhibit any of the symptoms they typically see in Stage 5 renal failure patients and was impressed with how well my body has handled this. He said that I was blessed and agreed when I said the Lord has certainly had His hand of protection on me.

We continue to wait and pray that my kidneys will wake back up. While we are waiting, we will be thankful for these small wins!

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Saturday, October 14

I had an episode this morning. My blood pressure bottomed out. No rhyme or reason. I wasn't doing anything strenuous. I was standing at my island doing an updo for a friend's grand-daughter who was attending homecoming. All of a sudden, I got really faint & felt like I was going to pass out. I sat down immediately and grabbed my blood pressure cuff. While we were checking the numbers, my hearing disappeared briefly - just for a minute or two. It faded out like turning a radio dial down, and then faded back up.

My blood pressure dropped down to 80/50 and my heart rate was low. I immediately took off my blood pressure patch, and drank some water. Within 5 or 10 minutes after the episode, I started to feel better and was back to normal in about an hour or two. I left the blood pressure patch off for the remainder of the day, didn't take any meds, and it finally leveled back off to normal 120/79, but my heart rate still is hanging out around 60, which is low for me. It typically hangs out around 80-90.

We don't know the cause - there really was no reason for my blood pressure to bottom out like that. Is it possible my kidneys are trying to wake up? It's not unheard of - there have been people with aHUS whose kidneys were failing, and then a year or two after being put on infusions, just all of a sudden start working again. The doctors can't figure out why it happens to some people (I think it's the Lord's providence, personally).

If my kidneys are beginning to wake up, then we'll have to back off the blood pressure meds to keep me from bottoming out again. Oh how I am praying this is the case and the Lord is breathing new life into these kidneys!

So that is our current prayer.

We are so grateful for how the Lord is moving in our lives and for the refining He's doing in us through this process.